Fun with the girls

Teagan is 2 years and 5 months.  Her sense of humor is kicking in.  She likes to call herself and us by different names, so Glen becomes Chase or Emilio and she is often Claudia.  She likes to squint her eyes, pretend they're closed, spin around, or walk around blind.  She has just learned how to jump (barely), but she can do a somersault and push-up.  She tells me every time she does a pee in her diaper, but she calls it a poo-poo.  She knows the difference (obviously), but she's sticking to that terminology!  She also says some words wrong, I think on purpose.  She calls water "daughter".  She used to call it "loo-loo", which was just because she couldn't say her "w", but now I think she's just doing it to be funny.  Daily, she asks for "chocolate pudding", which means anything yummy (like a granola bar).  I have no idea where that came from because we don't normally have pudding in our house.  Most days at some point, she whines "I want home" (as in Seattle), and she talks a lot about her extended family, so I know she's homesick and maybe just a little bored.  It makes me sad, but we've Skyped with Neely & Emilio and I made friends with a neighbor with a daughter the same age, so we're trying out best to help it.  And really, she's happy almost all of the time.  She loves to draw (as she calls it "color") and I'm thankful that a ream of paper is cheap, because she easily goes through 10 sheets in one sitting.  She likes to play with her baby doll (named Asher), dollhouse, Legos, puzzles, and her favorite is playing kitchen.  She likes to carry around one toy when we go on errands, usually a car or a dinosaur.  We have "roared" all around several furniture stores.  When she goes to bed, she needs to have her binkie, blanket, and one stuffed animal.  Her favorite changes week by week, but it's usually Lambie, Minnie Mouse, or kitty.

In general, the girls are getting along so much better out here and I'm also enjoying them so much more.  The bigger house is just live changing.  I feel like I can just breathe and get a moment to myself without a child within 3 feet of me at all times.  And without all the distractions I used to have, I'm more patient and I appreciate them more.  When I pick Claudia up at the bus stop, we walk 3 houses home, which can take awhile because it's so fun to stomp on all the ice and snow on the way.  Claudia always tells me a story about school in these 5 or 10 minutes and I really treasure it.  She has fit in so quickly at school.  She has never said a negative thing and she's always happy to go.  She joined up to her school's Girl Scout troop, so she's now a Daisy!  Her social life is better than mine.  She already got invited to two birthday parties this month.  I expected her to struggle with all the changes, but to the contrary, she just loves life right now and is happier than I've seen her in a long time.  She's getting into music and singing (er, off key) and she loves "Roar", "All About the Bass", and "Royals".  She also likes the Frozen soundtrack, but I wouldn't call her obsessed like some kids.

So a little about Connecticut suburbia.  Everyone around here is SO NICE.  I've heard that people on the East Coast are sort of blunt and rude, but for my daily interactions, I've never been treated so nice.  The men here are chivalrous and just swooping in to offer me & Teagan a hand.  We try to get out every day on at least one errand and we can't go out without someone chatting to us and telling Teagan how adorable she is.  Several moms have reached out to me already and given me advice and offered assistance with anything I need, so I feel a very warm welcome to this community.  For Glen, his work is more demanding than we anticipated, but the actual work he is doing is very rewarding.  The power of big pharma to make things happen is amazing.